Saturday, December 27, 2014

1) THE ROLLING STONES
We attended only 3 shows on this Tour @ Stade de France, Circo Massimo & Werchter festival and I have to say that we had a blast each time even though they were probably far from being their best shows on the tour.
Each time we were in the Golden Pit ( Platinum for Paris) with a great view, we took some nice Pics, our favourite was probably Rome @ Circo Massimo (though not their best show) because of the location and the fun we had for 3 days in Rome, probably the most beautiful city in the world.

A dream come true : attending a video shoot with AC/DC. Not a proper concert but the highlight of the year for us.

Too bad Phil Rudd was NOT there but being with the boys for a couple of hours in such an intimate setting was perfect. If you're looking closely at the official video and extras you can see Rockerparis in the audience. That was Christmas before it's time.

Just in the middle of the Rolling Stones's rehearsing @ Bondy Studios, Ennio Morricone playing his famous soundtracks in front of a sold-out Bercy. I've never seen so many people on a stage: 86 piece orchestra and 75 voice choir.

Amazing concert and we could met him before the show and get my "Good Bad Ugly " American Vinyl signed by the master himself.

THE WORST show of 2014:YES@ Grand Rex, Paris May 13 2014
By far the worst of the year is YES, After reading our review written straight after the show, I Guess that we were a bit rough... in fact NO. Boring music played for & by boring old farts.
We have nothing against Prog, we're great fans of RUSH but this crap was beyond everything...

We've also attended a few disappointing , average or boring concerts:Bryan Ferry @ Palais des Sports, Paris , Nov 21 2014I guess he was sick. Very average showMlle K@ L'Album de la Semaine, Canal+, Paris Dec 08 2014just boring, no good songs at allThe Do@ "Coming up session #1" France Inter, Paris Sept 24 2014electro pop boringHerbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter@ Olympia, Paris July 15 2014
Very disappointing concert, we were expecting a lot from these two legends but it turned out very... de-constructed and experimental...

We can ad this two as well:

Jack White (2nd show) @ Olympia, Paris June 30 2014New record not as good as the previous one and a bit disappointed by the show even though it was an overall good show

Cat Power solo @ Gaité Lyrique, Paris Oct 30 2014
Very strange concert, she was confused for the whole set, ending songs prematurely, not remembering her own songs, but we still love her very much , she's so sweet.

Friday, December 26, 2014

2014 is now over and we've done a short list of concerts, month by month, that we will remember for this year. 2014 was very quiet concertwise, several times we only went to a handful of shows for a whole month so this short selection isn't our list of the Best shows we've been to this year.

rolling stones rehearsals: one month of rehearsals in Paris which culminated with a secret private show for 27 lucky fans in the rehearsals studio in Bondy. After numerous attempts to organize a proper club gig in Paris that never materialized.

Ennio Morricone @ Bercy:
the best of the numerous soundtracks of the Master with more than a 100 musicians and chorists on stage in a sold-out Bercy.

March 2014

Babyshambles @ Chorus Fest
With a very good new album Babyshambles did a very good set much better than their previous concert at the Zénith in Paris

Rodriguez @ Olympia
Back for this sold-out and only gig in Paris after the disastrous gigs a few months earlier @ Zénith (Cigale show was better) This one was very nice

Black Keys @ Album de la semaine & Studio de la grande Armée
The band is now very successful playing festivals and sold-out arenas and we were lucky to attend two shows in front of less than 150 people @ canal+ and no more than 100 lucky guests @ Studio Grande Armée

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Louis Vuitton is celebrating the re-opening of its store on the posh Avenue Montaigne with a party with surprise guest BLONDIE for a proper concert.
The band has been in Paris for a few days now, first with a very short Debbie Harry set (4 songs) for the Paco Rabanne Perfume BlackXS @ Gaité Lyrique (click for the report) then Debbie & Chris did a signing session @ Marc Jacobs (click for a few pics) book store Bookmarc on sunday afternoon to promote Chris Stein's new book "Chris Stein/Negative : Me, Blondie, and the Advent of Punk". The store sold it for 55 euroswhen you can find it everywhere else for 40 euros. It is normally on sale for 55 dollars, funny way of doing the conversion.
Tonight the meeting place is at the huge Louis Vuitton store on Avenue Montaigne, lots of posh and sexy girls, we are wondering around the store a bit before going into the first main room where a DJ is playing then the opened the second room where the show is taking place , another huge room with a capacity of several hundreds.

It's a proper concert hall within the store (as big as the Gaité Lyrique) with a proper stage & lightning. The full band is here with Clem on drums is his " Glass cage".

The band is playing a Greatest Hits set and is in fine form and spirit. Chris has a wonderfully shaped guitar that looks like a HG Giger design (though i don't know if it is one)
We have a short medley of some groovy songs towards the end with snippets of the Beastie Boys' "Fight for your rights" and Dee Lite's "Groove is in the house".
BLONDIE ended their 60 min+ set with "Heart of Glass". No encore.
Very good show, now we can enjoy the buffet and champagne. Let's get waysted on the house.